Worship at Providence Church
How Providence Church Meets
Providence Church has now been meeting together for many years. It
is interesting that over the years we have received criticism for being
too hang-loose and even of being too structured in the format of our
meetings. Even though we have spent time on Sunday mornings
describing how and why we meet and have incorporated it into our
teachings we decided it was time to put into written form why we do what
we do on Sundays. The structure of our public worship meetings
includes four parts. These four have been traditionally used in
the history of the Church and can be found in the Old Testament forms of
worship as well. It is a general format with great historical
usage and a structure that can be a guideline for very liturgical
churches or for those with very minimal structure. Order must have
meaning and we employ it as a way that preserves both form and
freedom.
The first part of our worship meeting involves Preparation.
The purpose of this time is to speak to one another and to call one
another to God, the reason why we are meeting. In this part of the
meeting we are not directly addressing God, but rather one another.
The invocation, however, calls God or invites God to meet with us.
So we begin Sunday worship calling one another to acknowledge God and
reminding one another why we are gathering. This can include many
different activities: A call to worship, an invocation,
testimonies, reciting of the creeds, singing, confession of sin, reading
of scripture, a responsive reading, or a brief exhortation to recognize
we are in God’s presence as His forgiven people. We’ll never do
all of these in a single morning, but any would be appropriate.
The goal of this section is to impress upon people that they are coming
into the presence of the Lord.
Delivery of the Word of God is next. Once we recognize who
God is and who we are as His gathered people, we seek His revelation to
us through the reading of Scripture and the preaching of the Word.
In this primary segment, God speaks to us or it can be said that we hear
from God.
Third is our Response to God. This is explicit direct
worship of God where we speak to Him. This is through singing,
words of praise, reading Scripture (particularly segments that honor God
or praise Him for who He is or what He has done). In this time we
are gathered corporately but our focus is not on one another, but is
rather on God. Communion is a part of this and can be at the
beginning, middle, or end. It involves confession. These
second and third parts of the meeting are the most essential parts.
They acknowledge that we meet centered around Christ, represented most
clearly through the preaching of the Word and the breaking of the Bread.
Preserving time for this is necessary.
Finally, we are dismissed to Go Into the World. Here we can
give thanks and testimony to what God has done previously. This
transitions us from worship and also continues it by acknowledging our
thanks to God. It also reminds us that as He has been faithful in
the past, He will continue to do so as we part. A time of
intercession for one another is also part of our preparation to return
to the world. Finally, the service concludes with a Benediction.
The Benediction is an invocation for blessing and guidance.